Kuja and Mira
by Rae Kardrinalin
Summary: Kuja and an OC. This takes place just after the end of the game. I hated Kuja being dead...and alone. Please Read and Review!
1. Beginnings

Okay, standard disclaimer. I DO NOT own Kuja, no matter how much I really wish I did. Squaresoft owns him…mutters (lucky bastards)…Anyway! Mira is MINE! She belongs to only me (well of course…she's one of the nice people in my head…she even helped write the story!) I hope you like it. If you have any problems with Kuja being nice in any way…get a life! If you don't wanna think of him with anyone but you…well, sorry, write your own fic. Enjoy the story! I'll continue writing it as long as my creative spurt continues!

Whatever happened to Kuja?…

This had been one of Garnet's questions late one night.

Zidane had turned to her and said, he didn't know. "He was gone when I first came to, after the vines attacked us. I can only guess he died."

But what if he didn't?

There was fire, but strangely no screams. Then the grasping flames turned to strangling vines. They covered him, cutting off his air. No matter how he fought, he couldn't fight them off. He was sure he would die soon of suffocation.

Kuja sat bolt upright. There were no flames, but there was a definite tightness in his chest. He lay back down on the bed and surveyed his strange surroundings. Sunlight came through a window on the wall opposite the one his bed was against. He himself was covered in a light blanket, not much on underneath, but he hardly paid attention to that at the moment. The room was small, made out of wood. There was a single dresser under the window, a vase and a pad of paper resting on top of it. There was a small rug on the floor, varying in shades of purple and red. A noise from somewhere outside the room he was in alerted him that he wasn't alone.

This was, of course, confirmed when a young woman walked in the room. She seemed angelic, confirming his belief that he was indeed quite dead. She had pale, flawless skin. Her long strawberry blond hair was tied back in a braid down to her waist, a silver streak running from her left temple. She was tall, or she seemed to be from his perspective in the bed. Her eyes were the most startling. They were a deep purple-blue, unlike anything he'd ever seen. She wore a simple dress of a lighter blue than her eyes that came down to her ankles. She smiled when she saw he was awake and came over to the bed.

"Where am I?" His voice came out only as a whisper, the tightness in his chest increasing painfully.

"Just hold on a minute. I'll answer all your questions when I'm finished. You're having chest pains again?" He nodded silently. She seemed unsurprised and placed her hands on his chest, over the breastbone. Her hands were soft and cool to the touch. A white-blue light formed around them, and the pain in his chest eased. When his breathing was normal, the glow receded and she leaned back, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Again, where am I?" His voice sounded far more normal to him now.

"Well, it looks like you're really cognizant now, so I guess I can tell you. You're in my home, not too far from that big ugly tree. I found you three weeks ago, not far from here. I initially took you for dead, but when I found you weren't, I brought you here. You've been very sick, but I think you'll pull through." She smiled down at him, waiting for any other questions.

"How could I possibly be alive? Could Garland have been lying to me?" But Kuja had been sure he _was_ dying, and Garland had had no reason to lie to him.

"Well, I don't know who Garland is, or was, but you _were_ definitely dying. I nearly killed myself that first night just keeping your heart beating." He looked up at her sharply. She squirmed a little uncomfortably. No one ever took her explanations well. "Well, you see, I can manipulate my life force. And other peoples. I just transferred mine to you." She paused, considering, "Though, come to think of it, your body really did seem to be trying to kill itself. It's been continuing to fight me the whole time, but it seems to try less and less each time. I think it's decided that I'm not giving up, you're gonna live."

Kuja was fairly dumbfounded. This girl had inadvertently found a way around Garland's limit on his life. He could, conceivably, live a long, normal life. The prospect seemed staggering. True, he had done some terrible things, but Zidane said himself that he'd helped save those others. Maybe he could find a place for himself, hopefully where no one would know him, and perhaps start a new life. A new _long_ life. First, however, he had to recover fully.

Kuja raised himself into a sitting position; it took a surprising amount of effort. "What is your name?"

"I'm Miraina. You could just call me Mira, if you want." She looked down at her hands. "You said, during one of your more lucid moments, that your name is Kuja. Is that true?" She looked back up at him, but there wasn't any anger in her eyes, just curiosity.

Kuja nodded. "Yes, that's my name. Have you heard of me?" He dreaded the answer, and what it could mean for his future. Thoughts of Alexandria's prison, or getting sick and dying since he obviously wasn't well yet crossed his mind.

"I have heard of you, and all the things they say you did." Kuja looked away from her, fearing the worst. He turned back when he felt her hand over his. "Do you regret any of it?"

"Well, yes. Not until after I was beaten, but I didn't quite understand a few things before that."

"Then, that's good enough for me." She smiled happily and got up. "Are you hungry? I have some stew cooking, and you haven't been eating much." Kuja's stomach answered her question for him and she giggled as she left the room.

Mira didn't take long, and came in with a tray in her hands. It had on it a glass of water, a bowl of steaming stew, and a sliced up apple. Kuja hardly cared about his manners he felt so hungry. Everything soon disappeared and he handed his bowl to Mira for more. She didn't say anything, just left to get it. She came back as quickly as she had left and handed over the once again full bowl.

Kuja took his time a bit more on this bowl. "How long have you lived here?"

Mira pulled a chair out from the corner (he hadn't noticed it) and sat down. "I've lived in this house for the last five months, about. Before that, I'm not sure. The old man who lived here said he found me one day, with a terrible gash on my head. He took care of me until he died about a month before I found you. Anything before that, I can't remember for the life of me. Every time I try, I get the most awful headaches, and once he said I blew a rock into dust, and from then on, I try _not_ to think about my past."

"I'm sorry you don't remember. I really hope it isn't my fault that you were injured in the first place." He had by that time finished with the stew. Mira got up to take the tray from him. "Thank you, for the food and for your hospitality." How strange it felt to say those things! But around Mira, it seemed like it was second nature. He really was thankful for all she'd done so far, but even when he'd been thankful in the past, he'd rarely expressed it.

"Your welcome! I'm glad you seemed to like the food so much, and I was glad I could help someone. Makes me feel a little less useless…and less secluded and solitary." She left the room and when she came back in, Kuja had fallen asleep, exhausted just from eating. She went in as quietly as possible and rearranged him so he wouldn't be sore when he awoke.

Kuja was out of bed for the first time. It had been a week now since he had woken up in Mira's spare bedroom. He'd had attacks like on that first day everyday, but Mira continually made it better, and the attacks did seem to be getting less severe. Mira was currently outside in her little garden. Kuja had decided now was as good as ever to test his returning strength. He had put on a pair of simple pants that Mira had bought for him the last time she went to Conde Petie (which happened to be the closest semblance of a town).

The house itself was well built. There was another room, which belonged to Mira, a kitchen that served as a dining room as well, and another room that served as a living room. There was the usual assortment of furniture, as well as a few vases and pictures along the walls. All the pictures were very good, and he wondered briefly who had done them. He lost interest as he came in sight of one of the windows. It looked out on the garden, and he could see Mira outside working.

She was a wonderful woman really. She was polite, and a good cook. She was almost always smiling, and sometimes he could hear her humming to herself. As he stood starring at her, he noticed again how lovely she was. She was also incredibly graceful; she never seemed to stumble or falter when she walked. He was still starring at her when she turned and saw him through the window. She waved to him, and he found himself waving back.

'_What in the world is wrong with me? All I seem to think of is her! Maybe because she's the only person I've been around? But that makes no sense. When I kidnapped Lady Hilda I never had this problem with her. But what else could it be?'_

The subject of his musings came in the door at that moment. After putting some of her pickings in the kitchen, she came over to where he stood looking at one of the paintings on the wall. It was a picture of a sunset, with mountains in the background. She stood next to him and looked at the painting as well. While she stood there, he could just make out the perfume she wore, something light and flowery.

"So, I see you felt like getting up. How do you like the house?" She turned to him, the light catching her eyes and making them seem like a reflective blue.

"It's nice. Very cozy really. These paintings are very good, who did them?" He turned back to the painting to avoid looking at her.

"This one was done by Mr. Linsworth. A couple of them were done by me. There isn't enough money in the house to buy anything professional." She looked at the painting with fondness. Mr. Linsworth, the old man who had taken care of her, had a place in her heart always, but she felt no overt amount of grief at his passing. When Kuja had questioned her about that once, she had simple said that he was very old and it was his time to die.

"These are really very well done. You could consider selling them, and get quite a bit more money." He continued to gaze at the painting, noticing the layering of colors.

"No, I don't think I'd do that. I'm happy just putting them up in the house. But thank you for the suggestion. It really-" At that moment, Kuja doubled over in pain. His lungs seized and his heart was pounding loudly in his ears. As his vision clouded over, he was sure he was going to die now, and that the last while had only been borrowed time. Then everything faded to black.

He came to with Mira kneeling over him. She looked very concerned and was white as a sheet. He tried to sit up and found it wasn't as hard as he thought it might be. He noticed her breathing seemed a bit labored and now it was his turn to be concerned.

"Are you alright?" He reached over and tilted her head up to get a better look at her face. Her lips were faintly blue around the edges.

"Yes, I'm alright. I thought I was going to lose you there." She suddenly smiled. "I think I felt something happen, it was like something just snapped! I think that was one last ditch effort and you won't have any more attacks! Isn't that wonderful?" She suddenly leaned over and embraced him. He froze for a moment and then hugged her back.

'_Free! A long life like anyone else! What more could I really need…'_ Mira pulled away, blushing. She seemed to have just now realized he wasn't wearing anything but pants. She stood up quickly, and nearly fell over. Kuja got up and caught her, making sure she had regained her balance before he relinquished his hold, though he regretted it. She stepped back from him, still blushing.

"Now all we need to do is get your health back up to a normal person's, and you'll be all set." She went off to the kitchen and busied herself with putting the vegetables away. Kuja watched her for a few more minutes before going back to his room. He was tired, and it was a while before dinner. He could use some rest.

Two weeks later, Kuja was out helping in the garden. He'd never been one for manual labor, but working in such a small garden didn't bother him that much. He also came to enjoy thinking that he had done something and gotten something out of it with his own hands. He hadn't ordered someone else to do it, and he wasn't destroying anything. Mira was just a bit away from him, pulling some carrots out of the garden, occasionally pulling out an oglop and scolding it. He had gotten used to how she behaved, and had taken it pretty well when she told him she could talk to anything. He was learning something new about her everyday, and the more he learned, the more he wanted to stay and learn more. These emotions were new to him, he'd never been attached to anyone on Terra, and certainly no one here on Gaia. Something about her though, just drew his attention and kept it riveted on her.

"Hey daydreamer!" Mira called over to him. He'd been kneeling over the onions for a little bit and blushed when she caught him in his musings. "I'll be back in a minute! This little fellow here says that he would be happy to leave, if I could unblock a hole for him. I'll go do that, and then we can go in and have a cup of tea. Sound good to you?"

"Sounds great. Make sure he doesn't keep you too long." He turned back to what he was doing as she climbed over the small fence and disappeared around the corner. '_I really should be more careful around her. That's the second time she's caught me, and it's irksome that she can do that.' _Kuja stood and stretched. The last two weeks had been the best he'd ever had. There had been no fighting, no sinister planning, no overwhelming anger. It was just nice and peaceful.

He was bending over to pick up the bucket holding the onions and tomatoes he'd picked when he heard a scream. It was Mira's voice and he dropped the bucket and ran in the direction it had come from. He'd never felt a fear like this; it gripped his insides and made him think terrible things. As he rounded the corner, he saw Mira was being held by the forepaw of a grand dragon. It was licking it's chops, obviously intending to eat her, even as she tried to persuade it not to. Obviously, her skills of persuasion weren't working too well on it.

Kuja got angry, _real_ angry. He still had all his magic, and he let loose now with a thundaga spell. It hit the dragon in the abdomen, and it took off, still holding Mira. He tried again, this time using flare. The dragon roared in agony and dropped Mira, from really high up. Kuja ran forward until he was under her and cast a float spell on her. She glided down gently and he grabbed her when she was close enough. He held her protectively as he watched the dragon fly away, its flight a bit erratic.

"Thank you Kuja. He was really insane, and didn't hardly understand me and -" Her words were cut off by Kuja's mouth covering hers. He put everything he'd been feeling since he'd woken up into it; all the confusion, happiness, and fear at losing her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him as close as she possible could.

When they pulled apart, they were both shaking and fairly out of breath. It had been getting late when she'd gone off to help the oglop and the sun was beginning to set. They turned back toward the house, walking slowly and saying nothing. They got the spilled vegetables from the garden and went back into their home.


	2. Kuja and Mira: Together

The next few days, after they had kissed, Mira and Kuja were unsure how to act around each other. One had no experience; the other had no memory of any experience. This meant that they wee both shy and nervous. Every time they accidentally touched, they'd both jump apart, blushing wildly. Finally Kuja retreated to his own room to think.

As soon as he closed the door, Kuja began pacing. He'd liked the kiss. Hell, that didn't come _close_ to how he felt about it. He didn't know people could feel things like that, or this. His heart was pounding and he was shaking. He jumped away from her when they touched, but he _wanted_ to touch her. He wanted to kiss her again, and other things he was fairly sure he understood.

'_But does she feel the same? She kissed me back, but I suppose that could have just been gratitude._' He thought about that then shook his head. '_No, that can't be it. I should just go and talk to her._' He reached for the door handle, then stopped. This was completely ridiculous; he had no reason to be… _afraid_. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

Mira stood with her arm poised to knock. They stood there frozen, neither hardly daring to breathe. Then, Mira lowered her arm and cleared her throat. Twice.

"Ah, I…ahm…wanted to t-talk, to you. If I could."

Kuja stepped back to allow her to come in. He hadn't done much to the room; it looked almost exactly the same as when he'd first awoken. Mira stepped in and looked around, amazed at how much it hadn't changed. She had figured that Kuja was a very independent individual with his own unique tastes. This seemed to either indicate that he really didn't care, or that he liked the décor already. She hoped it was the latter.

Kuja closed the door, his eyes on Mira. She was wearing a green sleeveless dress that accented her figure. He shrugged off other thoughts and cleared his throat. "So, what did you want to talk about?" He went over and sat on the bed, motioning her to the chair.

"Well, I actually wanted to talk about the…ah…dragon." She sat down. "Or, the day the dragon attacked." She looked down at her hands, fidgeting nervously.

Kuja fought down his disappointment and the sudden pain in his chest. '_So I was wrong. Maybe I kiss bad, or maybe it was just gratitude._' "Well, I should probably apologize…ah…for my behav-"

"Kuja I think I love you." Came out of Mira's mouth in a rush.

Kuja kind of starred at her in dumb shock. '_Love? She loves me? Me! After all I've done?_' Kuja got up suddenly and roughly pulled Mira to her feet. He saw no deception in her eyes, and she didn't fight against him. "Love?" His voice came out little above a whisper, the disbelief readily apparent.

Mira looked down blushing. "Yes, well, I guess for a while now. I mean, you're nice to me, and handsome, and, ahm," her voice dropped to a mutter, "and your kiss almost made me swoon."

Kuja looked down at her, still not quite believing his own ears. But she sounded completely sincere. He tilted her head up to look in her eyes. Such fear there! Here he was, worrying that she didn't like him, and she was terrified he didn't like her! He laughed lightly at their behavior, shaking his head at their combined ridiculousness.

"That mean you don't dislike me?" she asked timidly.

"My poor dear, of course I don't dislike you." He leaned in and kissed her gently. Neither of them had made mention of his tail, since it seemed to annoy him on occasion, but now it wrapped around Mira's waist and pulled her close.

Mira pulled away from the kiss, though she was still trapped by the tail. "I guess _some_ of you really likes me at least." She spun around, unwinding herself. "I have to go finish dinner. We can talk more later." She escaped out his door and closed it behind her.

Kuja humphed, a smirk on his lips. "Now, who says we're going to talk?"

A storm came up that night. The wind was howling madly, and the rain and hail pelted the small house. With thunder shaking the place they were half-afraid the house would fall on their heads. The constant jumping whenever a particularly loud peal of thunder shook them killed the mood and both decided to go to their rooms early.

The storm was still raging at midnight. Kuja had gotten nearly no sleep, and not just because of the flashing and booming. He was tempted more than once to get up and see how Mira was, then changed his mind. '_She's probably asleep. I shouldn't disturb her._' He suddenly thought he heard a noise. He held still, listening. The room was completely pitch; the storm having quieted for a moment so no lightning illuminated anything. The subtle noise wasn't repeated, so he passed it off as the wind or his imagination.

The blanket was lifted of a sudden and a warm body slid under it next to him. Kuja recognized Mira's perfume and his body instantly responded to her nearness. He made a slight noise in the back of his throat and she froze, listening to his increased breathing. The rain outside suddenly picked up, but neither paid much attention to it.

"You're awake Kuja?" her voice was barely a whisper.

"Couldn't sleep." His voice was hoarse and he could feel the curves of her body through the nightgown. The shorts he wore were a poor barrier against her.

"I couldn't either. The storm has me all wired. Too much energy." She nuzzled his neck, her splayed hand on his bare chest. He rolled over and pinned her beneath him, his hands holding hers on either side of her head. He was careful not to have too much of his body touching hers.

"Don't Mira. Not unless you intend to finish what you start." It took all his self-control not to lower himself onto her and just give in to his instincts.

"Of course." She raised her hips against his and his control broke. He kissed her roughly, his hands seeking to get her nightgown off quickly. She returned his kiss with equal force and raised her back to get the tenuous fabric off.

Finally getting the damn thing off her, he kissed a trail down her throat to her chest. She moaned lightly as his left hand gently kneaded one breast and he suckled and nipped at the other. His other hand traced the curve of her hips, feeling goosebumps on her skin. If he wasn't careful he was going to do something regrettable; he couldn't wait much longer. With a muttered curse he moved away from her long enough to remove his shorts.

Kuja hesitated for a moment as he lay back on her. Mira's skin was flushed, her breathing fast and shallow. He pushed into her slowly, gasping at the sensation. She was a virgin and made a small sound as he entered her. He froze, waiting for her to adjust. She moved her hips up against his, her legs wrapping around his waist, and he started to move in a slow rhythm. His fist clenched in the sheet beside her as he kept the movement slow. As a first time for both of them, he wanted them both to enjoy it.

As the feelings got more intense, the speed and strength of his thrusts increased on their own. She met him thrust for thrust, an occasional moan escaping her lips. His mouth sought hers and her throat, nipping the sensitive skin. His tail had wrapped around her waist. He felt her body shudder beneath him as her back arched, her climax pushing him over the edge. He cried out and tore the bed sheets, his vision clouding over for a moment.

Afterward, they lay there gasping, a thin sheen of sweat on both bodies. The storm continued outside, but it was less intense now and seemed to be quieting even further. Kuja moved and lay next to Mira, pulling her to him and wrapping his arms around her protectively. She was asleep only a few minutes before he was, her head resting on his shoulder.


	3. Old Enemies and New Problems

Some time later…

Kuja had been living happily with Mira. They weren't married in the traditional Gaia sense, or Terran by any means, but they were husband and wife for the most part. They'd been lovers a short time after the incident with the grand dragon, and nothing was in sight of changing any time soon. Mira was coming in from one of her trips to Conde Petie, a basket of supplies in one hand, and some papers in the other. She seemed quite absorbed and didn't notice when Kuja walked up behind her.

"It that interesting?" He asked, looking over her shoulder. It was a general newspaper, one of the side story pages. Mira started at the sound of his voice and turned her head to smile at him.

"Well, yes actually. Do you remember that person you told me about once, who you said was like your brother?"

Kuja blinked a few times. "You mean Zidane?"

"Yes! That was him! It seems that he suddenly reappeared just a few days ago in Alexandria and he and the queen are going to be married in a week." She turned around to hand the paper to Kuja, who took it and began reading immediately.

"Well I'll be damned. I was beginning to think he hadn't survived." He scanned more of the article. "He sure took his time getting back to his lady love." He followed Mira into the kitchen and set the paper on the table. He stood there lost in thought as she put things away in the cupboard.

"You want to go to the wedding?" Kuja turned to look at her then shook his head as he laughed lightly.

"Am I really that transparent?" He came up and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Nah. Only I can read you like that." She leaned up and kissed him. She still knew nothing about her past, but felt there was less reason now to know. She had everything she needed, right?

"Do you mind going? I know you've expressed an interest in other places before, but I don't want to force you to go…" Mira looked at him in mock shock.

"You think you could force me to do anything? Why Kuja, I didn't know you were _that _powerful." She playfully escaped his embrace and raced out of the room, Kuja hot on her heels. They ran around the house for a little while before he managed to pin her against the wall.

"So, when should we leave for the other continent?" Kuja leaned in and growled lightly.

"How about tomorrow…or maybe the next day…"

They set out for Conde Petie in three days. There was supposed to be an airship to pick up anyone who wished to come to the wedding of Queen Garnet and Sir Zidane (he got the title to marry her, no commoners marrying the princess). It was a fairly uneventful trip. They were rarely attacked, and when that did happen, Kuja took care of it. When they reached the dwarves town, it was packed to maximum capacity. There were people here from the Black Mage Village as well, and Kuja got a hat to cover his hair, to go with the long coat he was already wearing to cover his tail. With him wearing normal cloths, he figured no one would recognize him as long as they didn't look too close. He and Mira got a small cabin just for them, and decided they would stay to themselves for the trip (even though it was fairly short).

Kuja and Mira had come with their own little gifts for the newlyweds. Mira had done a picture with a beach and a sunset, Madain Sari in the far background. Kuja, not knowing exactly what would be appropriate coming from someone who had tried to destroy their home planet, had settled for a necklace for Garnet. He didn't really intend to see either of them in person. They had probably come to the conclusion that he was dead, and he had no reason to change that. If they knew he was alive and well, he might have to face charges or stay in a dungeon. He was all for turning his life around, but he didn't want to do it in some ugly cell. And, there was Mira to think about…

Their room had a window, and they could see Alexandria as they approached. The city was much as Kuja remembered it, before its destruction. They had done an excellent job of restoring it from what he'd done. Kuja could still hardly believe he'd been that blind. Mira must have caught some of his negative vibes. She reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. He looked over and smiled at her, glad at least for some things that had come of his mistakes. He wasn't sure if he could have become the person he currently was without her help…in fact, he was sure of it. He'd be dead if it weren't for her.

"The inns are going to be all full, you know." She said, looking back out the window.

"You didn't read much of the paper, did you?" he teased.

"I read about the wedding. What more did I need to know?"

Kuja laughed. "If you had read more, you'd know that every available building has been temporarily turned into an inn. There'll be room for everyone." He turned back to the window, watching as the ground came closer.

They did find a room. One of the people in town was using their house as a tavern. She overcharged a bit, but they didn't mind. They got some congratulations on being newlyweds (it was a good excuse to share a room) and decided it might be nice to explore. Kuja decided that they could drop off the gifts tomorrow, and decided to show Mira around. He took her to Ruby's theater, which was doing very well now that she had gotten some more actors (and after deflating Lowell's ego). They both enjoyed the show and thought they would probably come back. He took her around near the bell tower, and she loved seeing the moogle, Kupo, there. Kupo was very friendly with her, but seemed shocked to see her. If Kuja hadn't been worried about his presence being discovered, he would have questioned the furball about it.

They spent the next day in much the same manner. Even with all the people there, the streets rarely seemed that crowded. They had lunch in a small spot that had been turned into a picnic area. Once or twice, some people thought they recognized Kuja, but then Mira would call him by some other name and say how nice things were since they had last visited. Kuja was glad she was so quick with simple deceptions like that, or he would have surely been attacked or arrested. And Steiner, old tin can man himself, was patrolling the area constantly…when he wasn't having a snack with his Lady Beatrix.

Finally, on the third day, Kuja decided he should drop the gifts off at the castle. Mira still wanted to look around a bit, and he didn't see any danger in her being by herself. They agreed to meet back at the inn around sundown, and then went opposite directions. Kuja knew his way to the castle easily, but he tried to keep a very low profile. The gifts were all being gathered in the main hall of the castle. He intended to just go in, drop them off, and then leave. Unfortunately, when he got there, he found the hall fairly packed, and that he'd have a bit of a wait.

He was almost to where the gifts were. He'd been waiting nearly an hour now, and he really wanted to leave. Two people already had asked if they had met him before. He was thinking of Mira and some of the things he wanted to show her, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. Trying not to act suspicious, thinking it was just one of the overtly friendly people who were celebrating, he just ignored it. Until he heard who the arm belonged to.

"I thought for sure you were dead, Kuja." Zidane, now _Sir _Zidane said in a low voice so no one else would hear him.

Kuja turned slowly towards him. Zidane was dressed in his normal cloths, nothing fancy. He didn't seem angry, but he was definitely on guard. Kuja and he stepped away from everyone else, into one of the side halls that were closed off from the public.

"Sorry to disappoint you. Though I was just as surprised to have woken up." Kuja took his hat of, his silvery hair falling down around his shoulders.

"How _did _you survive? And why are you here?" Zidane leaned against the wall.

"Someone helped me to survive. As to why I'm here," he held up his and Miraina's gifts, "I just came to congratulate you and the fair queen."

Zidane stared at the gifts before taking them from his former archrival, reading the tags. "Who is Miraina?" He looked slyly at Kuja, satisfied to notice a slight flush to his cheeks.

"Why, she's my savior and…ahem…girlfriend. Got a problem with that?" Kuja tried to look down his nose at Zidane, a smile of superiority on his face.

"You got a girlfriend? Amazing! Is that why you haven't gone on any rampages?" He got a glare from Kuja and held up his hands in apology. He set the things down on a nearby table just as Garnet walked in, her eyes widening at the sight of Kuja. Said Kuja bowed respectively to her. Zidane went over to his bride to be and patted her hand. "Look who came to the wedding! Seems he's turned himself around and even gotten himself a girl." Zidane was hoping she wouldn't flip and have him thrown in the dungeon.

"He intends only to stay for the wedding?" she asked coldly.

"Absolutely Your Highness. I would not like to overstay my welcome." Kuja was still very polite. He remembered the little queen's temper.

"Very good, as long as nothing bad happens, and especially not by-"

"Kuja!" A loud voice rang out from the other room, from the main doorway.

"Mira?" Kuja walked around and Mira came running up to him. Her hair was wild and her cheeks were flushed. She was breathing heavily from running. "What's wrong?" Kuja took her into the side hall where Zidane and Garnet were.

"Something is wrong! Something is going to happen! We have to do something, people are going to get hurt!" She didn't pay any attention to the royal pair.

Kuja put his hands on either side of her head. "Calm down and go slower. What do you mean something is going to happen?"

Tears started to form in her eyes, making Kuja very uneasy. He'd never yet seen her cry, not for anything. "I don't know. I just have this terrible feeling that something horrible is about to happen." He pulled her close as she started to sob, not knowing how else to comfort her. She'd known strange things in the past, like when there was going to be an earthquake, or where he'd dropped a ring he normally wore on his pinky finger, why couldn't she know something like this? Though it boded ill for Alexandria.

"What is she talking about? Who is this girl?" Garnet came forward, sympathy softening her voice.

"This is Miraina, and I don't know what she means. But she has more than once shown signs of clairvoyance. You'll want to take her warnings to heart." Having said that, Kuja turned his attention back to Mira.

"Well, what should we do? Stop the wedding? Just wait to see what shows up to destroy everything?" Garnet was sorry the girl was so scared, but she had her kingdom to think of.

"I don't know! This isn't my home, and as I'm not even much welcome here, I don't see why we should stay." Kuja said angrily.

Mira pulled away from him, her weeping having ceased. "No Kuja, we can't just leave. Whatever is about to happen, it's going to affect _everyone_, not just Alexandria." He looked at her annoyed. "Please?"

Kuja sighed. "Yes, yes, I knew you'd probably say something like that. I was just angry." He turned as Steiner rushed in the hall. "Is there a reunion I don't know about?"

Steiner stopped, not knowing what to make of seeing Kuja, his lieges, and some strange woman standing looking at him. He found his voice quickly enough. "Your Highness, there is a strange fire that has broken out near the entrance to the city. All our efforts to contain it are failing."

"Very well Steiner, we're coming right now." Garnet turned to Zidane. "I'm going to change out of my dress, I'll catch up with you there."

Zidane winked at her. "No problem. Coming Kuja?" He ran out of the hall, not waiting for an answer.

Kuja shook his head. "Will he ever change?" He looked at Mira and they ran out after the errant tailed to-be-groom. Garnet ran up the stairs to change and get her things for a battle if necessary.

The fire was not so much raging out of control as it was not stopping no matter what they tried. It hadn't yet destroyed anything really. The black mages were trying their magic on it, but to no avail. Most of the people had cleared out. Kuja, Zidane, and Mira arrived as the fire burst forward even more. The mages backed away from it, as it began to move toward them as if it had a life of its own.

"We have to put it out somehow!" Zidane went close enough to feel the heat from the flames.

"No duh!" Kuja looked closely at the fire. "This isn't a normal conflagration. It's not behaving mindlessly." He turned to the black mages, who looked at him in shock, realizing who it was. "Listen, we need to try and shoot a blizzaga spell at it all at once!" He turned back to the fire but the mages didn't get closer.

"Listen! He isn't here to hurt anyone. He wants to help! Please do like he says, we have to put out the fire!" Mira had turned to speak to them. They stood undecided for another moment, until one of them stepped forward and began casting the spell. The others soon followed suit and they were all casting the spell. They all unleashed their magic at the same time, blasting the fire. There was a lot of smoke, and they all thought they had succeeded in stopping the danger. Then the smoke cleared to reveal that the fire was bigger than ever!

"What the hell can stop this?" Zidane was backing away with everyone else. He didn't know what to do, none of them did.

Then something strange happened. Mira suddenly stopped retreating and walked forward a pace. Kuja reached out to stop her, but a tentacle of flame licked out and hit his hand. With Mira, however, the fire seemed to retreat from her presence. It moved away from her, like water retreating from the tide.

"What in the world?" Zidane said aloud. Garnet ran up at this point and saw Mira walking at the fire.

"Mira! Come back here!" Kuja called to her, but she ignored him.

"What is happening? Is she nuts!" Garnet tried to go forward, but again the fire lashed out. Kupo came up behind them all, watching the whole scene.

"I think it's time little lady, to stop this little problem, don't you agree?" He called out. They all turned to him, wondering what the hell he was talking about, and to whom.

"Yes," the voice came from Mira, but it was more resonant than hers was, and more devoid of feeling, "I think you're right." She raised her hands and light engulfed her. The light flew out over the fire, putting it out as it went. Finally there was nothing left but some stray smoke. Mira took a step to the side and collapsed, Kuja running up to her.

"Are you alright?" He didn't see anything wrong with her, at least nothing visible.

"Yes. What happened?" She turned to look at him, getting nervous when he looked like she was just a bit loony. "Did I do something?"

"Indeed you did!"

That voice. Kuja hated it with all his being. But he couldn't be alive! Kuja had killed Garland himself! Yet up I the air, on an airship of similar design to the Invincible, stood the hated figure of Garland. Half his face was now metallic, like his body, but it was most assuredly him. He stood smiling down at the assembled, seeming very pleased with himself.

"This young woman, you really have no idea, about who she is, do you? Well, what do I expect, from such a defect." He laughed, a cold sound. "You seem surprised to see me boy! You didn't think you could really kill me, did you? I've been alive for longer than you could imagine; you could never get rid of me. And you Zidane, you're almost as much of a disappointment to me as Kuja is! You could have had everything, and you throw it away for your 'friends'? How pathetic."

Kupo walked forward a bit, to be sure he was seen by Garland. "You know you may be able to beat them, but you know you can't beat her. You don't have a chance in a million years. You should leave while you still can, seeing as she's already shown that she can tap into her full powers when threatened." Kupo didn't flinch one bit when Garland glared at him. The most surprising of all was when Garland turned, and with a muttered curse, the airship took off, heading towards the northwest.

"What is going on here?" Garnet asked out loud, but no one could, or would answer her. Kuja was paying no attention to her at all.

Kneeling next to Mira on the ground, he tried to offer some comfort as she sat there shaking. The only thing she said was, "What am I?"


	4. Revelations and New Questions

They were all seated in the queen's chambers. They had gathered chairs so everyone could be seated; Kuja, Mira, Zidane, Garnet, Vivi, Freya, Eiko, Regent Cid and his wife, Kupo, Steiner, and Beatrix. Quina was busy and Amarant was not present in Alexandria yet. Everyone had been shocked at the appearance of Kuja. Mira was still pale, but she had composed herself and was now watching the moogle, as Kuja was. The room was dead silent after Zidane and Garnet had updated those who weren't present at the fire of the situation.

"Well, what does this mean then?" Steiner finally asked.

"We're not sure." Garnet said. "Maybe Garland has it in his head to finish what he started."

"But Terra was destroyed. Kuja did that for us." Eiko piped in, glaring over at Kuja. She couldn't bring herself to trust him; he had nearly killed all the people she cared about.

Kuja sighed. "Just because the planet was destroyed, doesn't mean the souls were. That will take much more time." He turned to look at Kupo. "I think you have some answers, and I think you had better share them."

Eiko jumped up from her chair and stood in front of the moogle, who simply gazed at Kuja mildly. "You are not gonna hurt him!"

"Of course I'm got going to." Kuja replied irritably.

"I can't tell you all you want to know." Kupo spoke up. "I can't even tell you why Garland is back, or how he is alive. I can only tell you to trust yourselves, and follow your instincts." Kuja got up in frustration.

"You know who she is." He pointed at Mira. "Or you certainly seemed to both when you first saw her and then again at the fire."

"No, I do not 'know' her. I know _of _her. I can tell you she is more than she seems, and that she is very powerful. Nothing more."

"Why not?" Garnet remembered her own amnesia, and didn't know how a moogle could withhold something as precious as a person's identity.

"Because it could conceivably kill her. She was never meant to have amnesia in the first place, and there are some significant problems with telling her too much." Kupo turned to look at Mira. "You tried to remember on your own?" She nodded. "And you got terrible headaches, maybe even blacked out?" She nodded again and looked down at her hands. "You see, she has a lot of information in that head of hers, and if too much is released at once, it could overload her mind, effectively roasting her brain. Her memories should return on their own, she just has to give it time."

"What about…what I did at the fire. Could that happen again?" Mira looked nervously at Kupo.

"What exactly _did_ happen?" Freya had been watching the woman closely and could find nothing threatening about her.

Kupo looked a bit nervous now. "Well you see, she can act instinctively. A part of Mira knows the truth about who she is and what she's capable of, so if she, or someone close to her, is threatened, then she reacts in a defensive manner." Kupo looked around as everyone digested this bit of information. "Well, I think I should get going now. The other moogles will want to hear this, Mognet will just be a buzz with our own speculations, so talk to any moogles you run into, we may have more information." With that he hopped to the window and flew out.

Zidane rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Great. So does anyone have any suggestions as to what we should do now?"

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I intend to find and kill Garland. I don't care what he says, I'm going to do it." Kuja stood up and helped Mira to her feet.

"You're going by yourself?" Zidane looked at Kuja like he was nuts. "You can't go like that, why don't we work together, we're a lot stronger that way." Garnet was glaring at Zidane's back, obviously not liking the idea of trusting someone who was once their greatest enemy. So what if he and Zidane could be considered brothers.

Kuja smiled thinly. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think I'd exactly be welcomed with open arms." He looked pointedly at the queen, then at Steiner who was fingering his sword, then at the little summoner who hadn't stopped glaring at him the whole time and was starting to get a cramp in her face. He looked back at Zidane. "We can take care of ourselves, no need to worry about that." He turned and walked out of the room, Mira following after an apologetic shrug and wave.

"We can't just let them leave like that!" Zidane went to follow, but Garnet caught his arm.

"We can't make them stay either." She looked up into his eyes, trying hard not to let her distaste for Kuja show through. "There is a lot of tension between us, and while you may be able to forgive Kuja for his past actions, it's harder for some of us. Please understand?" Zidane sighed in defeat.

"He _has _changed, you know." Zidane shook his head and turned back to his friends. "So! What are our plans?" Everyone shook their heads. Same old Zidane.

"Where will we go?" Mira and Kuja were getting a ride on an airship back towards Conde Petie, the royal wedding having been postponed for the time being.

"'We' are not going anywhere. You are going home and I am going to deal with Garland." Kuja sat down, waiting patiently for Mira's outburst. He was a bit confused when she calmly sat down opposite him and folded her hands in her lap. "You have no problems with this?"

"Of course I do. You are _not_ going without me." She held up her hand before he could say anything. "Look at it this way, how are you going to make sure I stay at home? I'm just going to follow you as soon as you turn your back. Now isn't it easier to take me along than to keep looking over your shoulder waiting to see if I get skewered by some random monster?" She smiled at him triumphantly.

"But…I…_Damn_!" Kuja humphed and rested his chin in his hand. "So, where do you think _we_ should start looking?"

"Where else? Where did most of the trouble stem from?" Mira looked out the window, a large shape just silhouetted against a thundercloud in the distance.

"The Iifa Tree."

Instead of heading towards Madain Sari, Kuja and Mira decided to go to the Black Mage Village and see what sort of weapons they could get Mira. Kuja tried talking her out of coming the whole trip to the forest, but nothing worked and he finally gave up, actually kind of happy to have the company. Mira asked a few million questions everyday, seeing as she'd never really been away from the little house. Every new plant they came across she had to look at and ask all of its properties and every animal they met she had to talk to for a few minutes. While the delays partially irritated Kuja, another part of him was glad it was taking so long. The more time it took them to get to the tree, the more time he had to figure out a way to keep her away from Garland. While his erstwhile creator and master had seemed afraid of her enough to leave, he didn't want to take the chance on losing her.

"Hey Kuja? Which way do we go?" They had reached the entrance to the forest, and Mira was staring down the paths.

"Which way does the sign say there are no more owls?" Mira read the sign and pointed, then hurried to catch up as Kuja walked that direction. They did this at every intersection and soon found themselves at the village. Many of the mages ran off to hide when they saw Kuja, but some, who had been at Alexandria, just kept a close eye on him. The former Terrans all looked at him and Mira curiously, but none of them approached the couple. Ignoring the stares, Kuja and Mira went to the weapons shop, hoping they would find _something_ for Mira.

"Yes, can I help y-ahhh!" The shopkeeper hid behind the counter in terror. Kuja sighed, fearing it was going to be a _very_ long day.

Mira walked around the counter and sat on the floor next to the terrified mage. "You don't need to worry. Kuja is a nice man now. We just came here to buy me something so that we can go and fight the really mean guy named Garland. No one is going to hurt you." The mage looked up at her and Mira smiled.

"You won't destroy my shop?" Mira shook her head. "You'll pay for your weapons?" Mira laughed pleasantly.

"Of course we will! We're not thieves or any other type of not nice person." She helped the mage to his feet, and dusted off his coat a bit. He was one of the few remaining original black mages, no 239. Many of the residents expected him and the few others to stop soon, but they didn't say anything.

"Well then, what can I get for you?" He showed them all the weapons he had in stock, which was fairly impressive. Kuja was looking at the High Mage Staff when Mikoto walked in. Kuja turned toward the only other Genome that had been given a soul willingly from Garland. He knew she was supposed to replace Zidane, just as Zidane was supposed to replace him, but the enmity he had always felt for Zidane was absent for her. She had been more of a puppet than either of them had been, even having her own soul.

"I am surprised to see you Kuja. We all thought you were dead, and many of us here couldn't believe it when we were told you had appeared in Alexandria. How did you survive?" She walked over to look at the weapons.

Kuja pointed at Mira, who was looking at Mikoto with open curiosity. "She saved my life." Mikoto turned and looked at Mira, who smiled and waved.

"How exactly did she accomplish this?" Mikoto walked up to Mira and walked around her, not knowing quite what to make of this woman whom Kuja obviously liked and seemed to be traveling with.

"It's a long explanation. Maybe I'll tell you someday. For now, we need to be hurrying up. If Garland has any time to do what he wants, we won't be able to stop him." Kuja turned back to the weapons and tossed Mira a High Mage Staff. She caught it with one hand and flipped it around the right way in the same heartbeat. Everyone starred at her for a moment in shock. "Guess we found a weapon for you." Kuja turned back to no 239 and took out his money.

"Why are you so surprised by this display? Haven't you ever handled a weapon?" Mikoto had turned to Mira.

"Well, you see, I don't remember. So if I have any skill, we'll just have to wait and see in a fight."

"No we won't. On the way to the Iifa Tree, I'll see what sort of skills you've got." Kuja finished paying and turned back to the women. "We should get going, unless I could convince you to stay here with Mikoto?" Mira gave him a sour look and leaned on her new staff. "Guess not. Then lets get going, okay?" He turned to Mikoto. "Take care of yourself Mikoto." He inclined his head slightly as he walked out.

"And you as well, Kuja." She smiled at Mira as she left. "Good luck to both of you."

The trip to Madain Sari took less time than Kuja had thought it would. Mira was so absorbed in learning (or relearning, as it seemed she already knew how to use the staff) that she ignored most other things on the way. Her adeptude with the staff reassured Kuja and he found himself having fewer bad dreams involving her insides being everywhere on the outside. They had kept an eye out in the skies for any airships belonging to Alexandria, but so far had seen no sign of Zidane and the others. For the most part they just shrugged it off and figured that it meant they were exploring other places for Garland. That, or organizing an attack.

Right now they were outside the decimated city of both Garnet and Eiko's birth. The moogles ran the place, and the bounty hunter Lani lived in Eiko's old residence. Mira was looking down the street, a puzzled look on her face.

"What's wrong? Something there?" Kuja came to stand next to her, but didn't see anything out of place.

"This place is very strange. I keep hearing things, like people are talking, but I can't quite make it out." She shook her head suddenly and smiled at him. "I don't suppose it really matters. Maybe it's just the wind in the buildings or something."

"Or maybe you've finally gone nuts." She mock shoved him away from her, but his tail grabbed her waist and pulled her closer to him. "Something wrong?" He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the lips, before walking into the town, Mira following behind him.

"I'm not so sure I'm the nuts one, Mr. Let's-Not-Get-Help-From-Anyone. Honestly, Zidane said we should work together, and what if he's right?"

"You saw how they feel about me. It wouldn't work. In the long run, we'd only manage to annoy one another and then Garland probably would win. This way we're attacking him from two fronts, and if one of us doesn't succeed, at least they can slow him down enough for the other to beat him." Kuja looked around the decimated city. The moogles didn't seem to be anywhere about, but they probably saw them coming and may have hidden, hoping he and Mira would just leave peacefully. '_No need to disappoint them, I suppose._'

"I suppose you may be right." Mira looked around with him, her eyes lighting on the Eidolon Wall. "What's that?"

"That's the Eidolon Wall. There are pictures of many of the summoned creatures these people could call for help." He smiled at the open curiosity in her eyes. "You want to see it?"

"Oh could I?" She looked so delighted that he couldn't help but laugh. '_And if the moogles have a problem with it, they can take it up with me._' He started walking toward the wall with her when they heard a noise off to the right. Lani came around the corner, her large ax in her hands, but in a defensive, not threatening gesture.

"Why are you here Kuja? I thought I heard you were dead." Lani kept a distance between them and leaned against a wall.

"We're just passing through and my companion here wanted to see the Wall. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Kuja crossed his arms over his chest.

"We don't mean any harm. I just really want to look at it. We'll leave right afterwards, I promise." Mira smiled sweetly, hoping they wouldn't have to fight this woman. She seemed nice, but Mira thought she seemed kind of nervous, like she was hiding something.

"The girl can go and see the wall." Lani motioned for Mira to go along, then turned her attention back to Kuja. "I want to talk to you about some things, okay?" Not waiting for an answer she turned and began walking in the direction of Eiko's old home.

"I can go then, Kuja?" Mira looked pleadingly at Kuja, biting her lower lip.

He really had to get better at saying no to her. "I suppose. Just watch your back. Something doesn't quite feel right here."

Mira was already walking toward the Wall swiftly. "Yes, I'll be careful. You too, okay?"

Kuja shook his head and followed where Lani had gone. In the house he still didn't find any moogles, but Lani was sitting at the table with a cup of tea in her hands. He sat down opposite of her and leaned back, waiting her out. She finally put the cup down and got up to pace a bit.

"So tell me, who's the girl?" She sat back down and poured herself more tea, offering some to Kuja, who refused.

"Someone I met after I was 'supposedly' dead. She saved my life." It seemed to be getting a lot easier to explain that to people.

"So you're traveling with her now? She powerful or something?" Lani took another sip of her tea.

Kuja checked an annoyed sigh. "Not that it's _any_ of your business, but yes she is. Though that isn't why she's with me. I couldn't get her to stay at home, so instead of having her following me she's traveling with me so I can keep an eye on her."

Lani blinked a few times. "At home? You mean you live with her?"

Kuja smiled thinly at her. "Yes. And sleep with her too. You could think of her as my wife, if you'd like." He stopped smiling at Lani's horrified look. "What, is it so unbelievable I fell in love with someone?"

"No! No, that's not it!" Kuja narrowed his eyes at her. Lani suddenly jumped up and grabbed her ax, but instead of attacking Kuja she ran out the door. Kuja followed behind, catching up with her in no time. They were running toward the eidolon Wall.

"What's going on Lani!" Kuja was running a little a head of her.

"He told me he'd kill all the moogles if I didn't separate you two. He said you were using the girl! I'm sorry." Kuja ignored that and ran faster, reaching the entrance to the Wall before her and ran in. Mira was no where in sight, but above them was the tail end of Garland's ship.

"Garland dammit! Come back here!" Kuja powered up a meteor but Lani hit him on the head, breaking his concentration.

"If she's on board than you could kill her! Really! You shou-ulp!" Her voice was cut off by Kuja grabbing her around the throat and lifting her off the ground. The look in his eyes was pure murder, worse than when he had been the bad guy.

"I should kill you for this. I should crush every bone in your body!" He continued to squeeze her throat, when he was suddenly knocked backwards into one of the pillars near the Wall. The breath was knocked from his body and he saw Zidane, Garnet, Eiko, and Vivi run in. The blast had obviously come from the black mage.

"I told you not to trust him!" Eiko was standing away from him, pointing her finger at him. "He probably already killed Miraina!"

"No." Lani was coughing, and her voice was barely audible. "He didn't. I sold her to that creepy metal guy. He said he would kill the moogles if I didn't separate her from Kuja." She looked away from all of them. "I'm sorry I believed him."

"No kidding!" Kuja stood up; most of his rage gone after having some sense slammed into him. "And where are the moogles now, anyway? You are aware of the fact that he likely killed them anyway."

"He couldn't have!" Eiko ran out of the Wall area and began calling for the moogles. None came, and she ran off, Garnet following her.

"So Garland has Mira?" Zidane came over to Kuja, who was watching the skies where Garland's ship had gone. He'd headed toward the Iifa Tree.

"Yes. Though I don't know what he wants with her. He may simply kill her." Kuja kept his voice carefully controlled, but his hands were clenched into tight fists and his tail was moving back and forth in an agitated manner.

"You wanna come with us then?" Kuja turned to look at Zidane. "If only until we get her back for ya. Then you can go off on your own if you like." Zidane smiled reassuringly.

"Alright." Kuja walked toward the exit, his thoughts doing circles in his head. "Just keep the little summoners off my back."

Vivi stepped out of Kuja's way, then fixed his hat and followed behind him. Zidane shook his head and sighed. "This is going to be interesting." He heard a scream and ran in its direction, seeing Kuja and Vivi ahead of him already on their way.

It was Eiko and Garnet. Eiko was crying hysterically, Garnet crying quieter next to her, trying to comfort the younger girl. Lani wasn't far from them, hitting her ax on the rocks. They sat near a small outcropping, some flies buzzing nearby.

"What happened." Zidane looked at the two of them, unsure of what to do.

"Their dead, all of them. Garland killed all the moogles of Madain Sari." Garnet choked out. Kuja walked over to the outcropping and sucked in his breath sharply.

"I'd suggest we get going and deal with this sicko as soon as possible." He turned from whatever gruesome sight was there and looked at Zidane.

Zidane didn't want to see what could make Kuja ill, and turned towards Lani. "You want to come with us?"

Lani stopped hitting the rock (what was left of it). "No, I'll stay here and bury them. It's the least I can do."

"Then lets get going everyone. We'll go to the Iifa Tree and kill Garland, this time making sure he's really dead."


	5. Fates Changed

Kuja sat on the bridge of the Red Rose II. It was quite a spacious ship, made for long trips that could leave people in the air for a while. All the furniture was made of solid oak, and the pilot would stand in the middle of the top deck, higher than everyone else to see over anyone's head. Most of the others had kept their distance from him, and he was glad for the solitude. Eiko had been put to sleep, Garnet keeping watch over her. Steiner's hand constantly strayed to his sword, sure at any moment Kuja would reveal himself as an enemy. Quina was below decks looking for more food to eat, and Amarant had never shown up in Alexandria. Vivi and Zidane were the only others on the bridge; Zidane was piloting and Vivi was watching Kuja. Feeling his eyes on him, Kuja finally turned to the black mage.

"Is there something I can do for you?" His voice was rough from suppressed emotions.

"I wanted to ask you something." Vivi said timidly. He didn't want to further upset the wizard.

"Well then, ask away. Don't just sit there starring at me." Kuja turned form him to look out a nearby window. '_We should be at the Iifa Tree soon.'_

"Why did you make the black mages?" Vivi looked down at his hands.

Kuja sighed. "I would think that was obvious. When I was following Garland's orders, I needed an army that would follow my orders without question. I never honestly expected them to develop an awareness."

"Did you ever regret it?" Vivi asked very quietly.

"Before?" Kuja turned to look at him, aware that Zidane was listening for his answer. "Never. It never crossed my mind to regret what I had done." Vivi was speechless with shock. Kuja sighed again. "I have my regrets now for the things that I did. That I didn't treat the mages any better after they became aware, and that I had the audacity to make them in the first place, when I was so angry about my own 'creation' by Garland, are among them."

Vivi nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. He turned to look out the window and Kuja went back to his own thoughts. Personally he was glad the mage asked no more questions. Zidane looked down at the two of them and cleared his throat. They both looked up as he jumped down from the controls.

"We've reached the Tree. We should go and get the others." They nodded and stood up, Vivi adjusting his hat, Kuja straitening his jacket.

"Let's go get the tin man then." Regardless of the lightness of the words, Kuja's eyes were cold and hard, the smile on his face vicious and cruel.

Zidane met his eyes and didn't look away. "Ya, let's go get him."

They parked the ship near the base of the great Iifa Tree. Most of the leaves had turned a dull brown, but those nearest the trunk still had some green in them. The entrance Zidane had once used to get in to find Kuja was sealed, all the vines having hardened as they rotted. The group had no visible way to get in, and they circled the tree for hours. They finally had to rest for the night, not having enough light to see by. Kuja still kept his distance from the group, ignoring the glares Eiko sent his way.

"So what for dinner?" Quina looked at everyone over the fire.

"I'm not hungry." Eiko responded.

"I think it's eat as you like Quina. None of us are much up to food right now." Garnet said, smiling slightly at their perpetually hungry companion.

"That no good. How you fight bad metal man if you all too hungry. I make nice big dinner for everyone! And you all eat!" With that s/he set about making dinner, using all number of things from their supplies. Needless to say, if it didn't kill them, it'd keep them alert all night with upset stomachs.

Zidane went over to sit next to Kuja. "So what exactly is the plan? How do you think we can get in?"

Kuja raised an eyebrow at him. "What makes you think _I _have any idea? You're supposed to be the important leader, the one with all the plans."

"Yes, well, that doesn't mean that I don't ask for a little help from those I travel with." He laughed and scratched the back of his head. "Most of the time they just say it was my idea."

Kuja sighed loudly and lowered his head into his hands. "And this is the person I have help from to rescue my wife and save the world." He looked over at the young man. "Were you just insanely lucky when you fought me?"

Zidane smiled lopsidedly. "Probably."

"Zidane and Kuja, come and eat good food!" Quina called over to them. Most of the group was dumping theirs while its back was turned.

"No thanks!" Both of them answered together. At the very least, it made them smile, even Kuja.

"You know we'll get him. Just gotta have faith in the people you're with." Zidane patted him on the back and went to sit with Garnet.

Kuja sighed as he turned to watch the darkness around them. Some creatures were lurking out there, but most kept their distance form the light. '_So I have to have faith in the people around me, do I? That's quite a change from what I've known all my life. I don't know how they can expect such things of me._' He quickly corrected that thought. _How Zidane can expect such things of me. The others don't really expect anything, which suits me just fine. I've only ever had faith in myself, no need to change just for them._'

'…_Kuja…_' The voice was light as the breeze, and seem to come from all around. Kuja looked around in alarm, suspecting some trap or attack from Garland. The others acted as if nothing had happened and he resumed his seat.

'_Heaven help me, I'm beginning to hear things._' He took several deep, calming breaths. The wind began to pick up, carrying a scent that reminded him of Mira. He stood up and looked around, wishing he could see farther into the night. No one near the fire seemed to have taken any notice of him. An image formed itself in his head, Mira standing before the Iifa Tree, a smile on her face.

'…_Come on Kuja, can't you get to me?…_' As the image faded, he could hear her laughter on the breeze. He turned toward the Tree, noticing little things that had been in his vision a moment before. He took three steps toward the hated thing, and powered a spell. The whole group had by now noticed his behavior and was watching him. As he powered up the spell, everyone with sense enough began to get nervous.

'_I _will _succeed in this!_' Who knows where the power came from, he'd never been capable of anything like it unless he was in Trance, but he let loose the Ultima spell at the Tree. There was a huge explosion and the ground rocked beneath them all, but when the dust cleared there was a sizable hole in the Iifa Tree, just waiting for them to enter. They all turned to look at Kuja, who smiled briefly at his handy work, then, collapsed in exhaustion.

"Why don't we get rid of him? Or leave him here? We can go and save that girl all by ourselves!" Eiko's voice cut through the fog that circled his head. Kuja slowly opened his eyes to see that it was day already and they were not far from him. They seemed to be arguing about him, though he was only able to hear Eiko, who seemed inclined to loudly voice her opinions. "Come on! We can't just wait all day for him to wake up. And do I have to remind you what he did? He's dangerous."

Kuja sat up carefully, allowing himself a moment when the world spun around him. "I'm awake already, so pipe down pipsqueak!" He called over to them, which made everyone turn toward him and come closer.

"I am not a pipsqueak!" Eiko said shrilly.

"Keep speaking like that and I'll never call you anything else again." He snapped at her. She fell to standing and glaring at him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"We weren't sure you were going to wake up. You okay?" Zidane knelt down next to him.

"I will be, just give me a few more minutes." He looked at all the faces around him, most of them holding suspicion and a bit of fear. He looked over toward the Tree and saw the hole he had made. In the light of day, he saw that he had blown a quarter of the base away. He continued to stare at it in wonder, amazed at his own power.

"Impressive, I have to agree." Zidane said carefully. "You think you'd be able to do it again?"

"Are you kidding? I'm lucky I didn't kill myself doing this." Kuja closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. "Technically I shouldn't have been able to do it without being in Trance."

"He could be lying." Eiko put in.

"Maybe, but I don't think he is." Vivi spoke up.

"Why would you say that Master Vivi?" Steiner wanted to believe the worst of Kuja.

"Well, it sure did seem to take a lot out of him." He pointed out. "And besides that, he seems about as powerful as he had been before he Tranced, and he was never able to cast Ultima on us before that. So it rather makes sense that he is telling the truth." Vivi readjusted his hat, proud of his logic.

"Makes sense to me." Zidane smiled at Garnet, who was frowning ever so slightly. "We should get going as soon as we can, that alright with everyone?" No one said anything, which for Zidane signaled their consent. He stood up and went to get something to eat for breakfast out of his pack. The others went about collecting their things, no one saying much of anything. Kuja contented himself with trying to stand without falling over and looking a fool. He succeeded on his fourth try, and stood waiting for everyone else to be ready. He was more than sure now that Mira was here, waiting somewhere inside the Iifa Tree.

"Well, I'm ready to go when everyone else is." Freya stood with the lance Dragon's Hair in her hands, leaning against it slightly.

"Yes Freya, we're coming." Zidane stood and dusted off his pants. All the others got themselves in order quickly and they all set out for the Really Big Hole, as Quina was happily calling it. They weren't far from it, so pretty soon they stood within the blasted remains of the Tree. Inside, it looked as if a giant worm had eaten out the bottom of the Tree. The edges were all rough and torn, and a strange bluish light came from the bottom, which wasn't visible to them from where they stood.

"This looks like the way we should be heading, huh?" Garnet came to the edge and looked down. She stepped back quickly as the ground began to crumble at her feet. No sense in falling to break your neck before you got a chance to be killed by something more horrible.

"Guess we should start down. More time we leave Garland to work, more we have to face when we see him." Freya walked to the edge and jumped to an overhand a short ways down. The rest of them began to follow her.

"How much further to the bottom, do you think?" Zidane called down to Kuja.

"I have no idea. The Iifa Tree was never this deep before." He hopped down another overhand and looked over the edge. He and Zidane had easily overtaken the others a long while ago. The light was a lot brighter now, but the bottom was still not in sight. Kuja opted to wait for the others and sat down.

'_What am I going to do if he's killed her? And what could he really want with her anyway?_' Kuja put his head in his hands. These questions and others had been plaguing him the whole way down. He heard Zidane land, but didn't acknowledge his presence, not even when he heard Zidane move to stand before him.

"Will you snap out of it already?" Kuja raised his head, surprised by the venom in his "brother's" voice. "Look at Eiko. Her friends _are_ dead, and she isn't going around feeling sorry for herself. Or are you saying you're more pitiful than a kid?"

"No." Kuja stood up to look Zidane strait in the eyes. "I _am_, however, less experienced in emotions that don't involve destruction or wanting people dead. I have _never _been loved, Zidane, and have never loved anyone else. I have never even had friends. To suddenly have these feelings and to have the source of these feelings in mortal danger, I think I'm allowed to be a bit unhappy." He turned away and walked to the edge again.

Zidane stood looking at Kuja a minute. He could hear the others making their way down; they'd be here in another minute or so. He took a deep breath and walked over to stand next to Kuja. "I'm sorry, but we're all under a lot of stress." Kuja nodded in acknowledgment, but said nothing. They were still standing like that when Steiner, then Garnet landed behind them. Zidane turned and waved at them as Eiko and Vivi landed (Vivi fell, and Steiner helped him up). Garnet walked over to stand beside Zidane and look down.

"Look out below!" Quina called before jumping down with the others. Freya shook her head and leapt down gracefully; glad they had all made it without incident this far.

"So how far do you think we have to go?" Garnet looked toward the light, wishing it didn't seem to obscure things.

"Knowing Garland, probably another mile." Kuja replied dryly.

"Me getting hungry. We go too slow. Need go faster." Quina walked to the edge, looked down, and jumped.

"No!" Seven voices all shouted at once.

Garnet looked away, not wanting to see the splat that Quina became. Freya came running up, hoping s/he had landed on another overhang. Eiko and Vivi stood back awaiting the worst, and Steiner was too dumbstruck to leave their side. Kuja and Zidane though. Zidane's mouth fell open, and Kuja began to laugh. Garnet opened her eyes as the others all ran over. Quina stood maybe eight feet from them, the floor she stood on being a giant smoky mirror. They had finally reached the bottom.

Kuja and everyone jumped down to where Quina stood. The light the floor reflected came from a cave just ahead of them. It had been hidden from view until they were right in front of it. The inside was carved smooth, the walls being made of gray opaque crystal. They saw a room ahead of them; a balcony looking down, it turned out to be. When they reached the end, there was a railing and set of stairs to their left. No one had said anything thus far, all of them expecting some sort of trap. They had come to a large domed, circular room, with three doors along the wall on the lower level. There was no furniture or ornamentation, save a single stone bier in the center; the source of the light. Lying on the bier in a simple black dress was Miraina.

Kuja stood frozen looking at her. Her skin was white as marble, her lips a light pink. Around her head was a simple gold coronet with a red gem set in the center. He let out the breath he'd been holding when her chest rose ever so slightly with her breathing. He'd feared for a moment that Garland had killed her, and left her body here as a cruel joke. He was weak with relief, and began to think that maybe they would get her safely out of here.

Everyone had held still, waiting for Kuja's reaction. When he seemed to relax a bit, they let out a collective sigh. The door to the left opened then, and Garland walked in, followed by two odd looking Iron Men. They all saw each other, and for a moment, you could have heard a pin drop. After that, it was just chaos.

The Iron Men looking things attacked the group, holding them back. Kuja and Zidane managed to get by, by jumping over the railing. Four more Iron Men things came in through the other door and joined the fray. Standing before Garland, who stood between them and Miraina, they could hear the battle raging behind them. Vivi, Eiko, and Garnet could be heard casting spells. The sound of steel on steel let them know Steiner and Freya were holding there own. They could also hear Quina complaining of the taste of the Iron Men things. Garland stood with a smile on his half-metallic face, a ball of energy in his right hand.

"So, my defects have returned to me." His voice was light and mocking. "I'm so sorry to say though, I have no use for either of you." Kuja had cast reflect on himself and Zidane while Garland spoke. He was about to cast Flare when Garland threw the ball of energy at them. It ripped through the reflect and sent them both crashing into the wall. Both blacked out.

Kuja came to first. He shook his head slightly to try and clear the spots before his eyes. Vivi stood by him, seeming to be relieved he was awake. The black mage stepped back as Kuja carefully got to his feet. Zidane was not far from him, Garnet cradling his head in her lap. The whole group looked the worse for wear, but three of the Iron Men things were dead on the ground. Mira no longer lay on the bier, and the light had dimmed.

"Where's Miraina?" Kuja turned toward the young queen. She raised her eyes to look at him and Kuja felt his blood go cold. "What happened?"

"She got up from the stone table by herself. She didn't seem to recognize any of us. Then Garland called her from the doorway, and she just followed him without any argument." Garnet looked down as Zidane began to stir.

"And you didn't go after them!" Kuja's hands clenched into fists.

"That was just a minute ago. We came to check on you two before we followed." Freya's voice was calm, if tired. "I'm sure there's still time to catch up with them."

Kuja took a deep breath and counted silently to ten. Zidane sat up and looked around at everyone. "So what are we all still doing here? Where'd Garland go?" Garnet pointed toward the door Garland had entered from. Zidane got to his feet, Steiner helping him when he swayed a bit, then walked toward the door. It was locked.

"If you move Zidane, I could blast the door open." Vivi said quietly. Zidane complied and Vivi blasted the door with a meteor spell. Kuja was through the opening before the dust had cleared, Zidane following quickly with a muttered curse and something about hair-brained wizards. The others followed closely behind.

They entered a hallway, five doors on each side and one strait ahead of them. Kuja stood in the middle of the hall, looking around. Zidane came up behind him. "What are you waiting for?"

"What do you mean? You don't think that," he pointed to the door at the end of the hallway, "is the way he went, do you?" Zidane nodded. "Silly boy. Garland would never make it that easy. He went through another one of these doors, I'm sure of it. The only question is, which one?" Kuja went to the first door on the right and opened it. A blank wall stared back at him.

"Wrong one. Let's try another one." Zidane went tot he first on the left, and opened it. He was thrown backwards by one of the Iron Man things. Two of the other doors on the left side opened and out came three more. The group jumped into the fray, all of them except Kuja. He continued to open doors on the right side. Two led to empty rooms, two led to a chest, but no other entrances. He carefully moved out of the way of a flailing limb and went to open the last two doors on the left side, when he turned back to the first door he had opened. The blank wall seemed wrong, somehow, like it didn't belong there. He moved over to the rock wall and put his hand on it, ignoring everything else around him. After some initial resistance, his arm passed right through.

Kuja stepped through the wall without thinking, not bothering to wait for the others. He felt confident that he could face and beat Garland if necessary. He hadn't been intending to come with them in the first place, after all. The room he stepped into had a wide opening in the top that allowed sunlight to hit the bottom. An airship rested on the ground, robot looking things boarding the ship on each side from ramps. Garland stood near some crates, giving instructions. Beside him stood Miraina, a blank look on her face as she watched everything around her. Garland turned and met Kuja's gaze, a look of irritation crossing his face.

"Deal with him!" Garland pointed toward Kuja and four of the robots stopped there loading to move in his direction. Satisfied, he turned toward Miraina. "Come along, my dear."

Kuja couldn't believe it when she turned and followed Garland up a ramp onto the ship. "Mira!" She turned at the sound of his voice, but only briefly, and there was no recognition in her eyes. He would have run after her, but the robots had reached him and it was all he could do to stay in one piece. The airship soon took off while he was fighting them. He was still fighting two of them when the others made their way into the airship hanger, and together they quickly defeated the last ones.

"What happened?" Garnet asked.

"He took her with him." Kuja answered, his eyes going to the high tunnel. He said the next part very quietly. "She didn't even recognize me." No one knew quite what to say to that. They could only look up the tunnel with him and hope they would be able to save Mira.


	6. Destruction

They all sat in the thrown room of Lindblum Castle. Kuja had been silent the entire way here, not saying anything to anyone, unless asked a question. But even then, he only gave one-syllable answers, then went back to his own thoughts. By the time they reached Cid's, even Eiko was beginning to feel sorry for him. Vivi brought him something to eat when he didn't move to get it himself, but he only placed the plate in front of himself and stared off into space.

"It sounds to me," Cid began after hearing everything that had happened, "that we have quite a problem. We have to remember that Kupo said Miraina was very powerful, and if Garland has a way of controlling her, we could well all be in grave danger."

"But she didn't even know how to use her power." Freya pointed out.

"That's quite true. He may then only be keeping her as some sort of hostage then, waiting to see if we can catch up with him." Cid turned toward his adopted daughter. "Could you possibly ask Kupo if any of the moogles have seen them? Perhaps he could also answer if she could be using this power he said she has."

"I can go and ask one of the moogles here in Lindblum." Eiko said. "Try to remember Father, Kupo is in Alexandria." She got up and ran out the door, hoping she wouldn't miss anything important.

"We can't just sit around and do nothing until we have an idea where they are. We should be out there searching for them." Garnet got up and began pacing.

Zidane got up and stopped her pacing by wrapping his arms around her waist. "We all feel the same Garnet. Unfortunately, we can't just do that. We might not be where some really important piece of information came in, and then it could be too late."

In Treno, City of Perpetual Night, a man made almost entirely of metal walked beside a young woman in a black outfit. Around her head was a gold coronet, the red gem in the center glowing a dull red. They stood near the center of the city, most people keeping their distance from the pair. The woman seemed mildly curious about everything she saw, and the man seemed delighted and what might be interpreted in another as giddy.

"Well, my dear, the city is just waiting for your first performance. You shouldn't disappoint them." Garland folded his arms across his chest.

"Yes, yes, I am aware of that master, sir." Her voice was bored and cold, seeming to now be disinterested in what they were doing there. "Just be sure you stay out of my direct path." A ball of black light formed in her hands, its center a deep violet. A smirk crossed her face as she let it fly randomly in front of her and the screams began.

In the thrown room, they were still discussing possible courses of action when a soldier ran in. He was out of breath, and had obviously been running for a while. He waved away a seat and drew in as much breath as he could. "Forgive…the interruption…your Lordship. Treno is…burning. Must come …immediately." Now he sat down, having relayed his message.

"Treno?" Garnet asked in disbelief.

Cid stood up immediately. "We must go now. We'll see for ourselves what is happening. To the Red Rose II!"

"I think we figured that one out Father." Eiko said as she walked in. "Let's go everybody! I'll update you on what the moogles said on the ship." With that, she ran out, followed by, well, everyone.

The ship was waiting for them, as Cid had given orders to have it ready at all hours. They quickly boarded and as soon as they were underway, they all turned to Eiko. She fidgeted nervously for a moment before sitting down on the steps to the piloting platform.

"Well, the moogles weren't much help. To be honest, they were really alarmed at the news of her being with Garland, and they left in a big hurry."

"Did they tell you anything useful at all?" Zidane asked from the controls.

"Well, they said it was possible she could be using her full powers, but they thought it was probably unlikely." Eiko shrugged helplessly.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Freya's voice held a hint of fear and awe in it. They all turned to ask what she was talking about, but they quickly saw for themselves.

The City of Perpetual Night, Treno, was a blaze with fire. The whole of the city seemed to be burning. The white and purple flames illuminated everything around it. The center of the city was the only place where the fire seemed to not be burning out of control. As they got closer, they could see below them two people standing in the very center. One was obviously Garland; the other was Mira, wearing a black pants outfit, her hair held back by the strange coronet. As they watched her, she shot out a blast of black and purple energy, destroying one of the remaining buildings. She seemed to be enjoying herself.

"I'm landing us near the city." Zidane said quietly. "The flames are too intense, so we have to." No one made any comment as they landed. They all got out of the airship quickly, anxious to see if their eyes had deceived them, and Mira wasn't destroying everything.

As they reached the outskirts of the city, they saw that people were still fleeing. Zidane split the group up to help those who were running, those who might be trapped, and the others were to go with him to deal with Garland. Kuja had been silent the whole time, his face pale and drawn. Zidane moved over to run beside him as they made their way to the center, avoiding the worst of the destruction.

"You holding up?" He kept his voice low, so that Garnet and Freya wouldn't hear him.

"I have to hold up. I can't believe he could get her to do this, to go so far against her nature." Kuja looked briefly at Zidane. "She loves life Zidane, she would never do something like this."

"I believe that." Zidane wondered briefly at the look in Kuja's eyes. Had he seen fear, or desperation? It was too hard to tell. "Garland is pretty resourceful though. He could have found a way to completely control her. We can't rule out that option." Kuja nodded briefly, and increased his speed. They soon found themselves in the center of the city. Before them were little twisters of flame, black as the night sky. Standing behind the twisters was Mira, a cold smile on her pale lips, Garland not far from her, watching the destruction with a mild detachment. They both turned as the group came into the cleared space.

"Well, well, well. Looky here Master Garland, we have us some fine visitors. " Her voice was mocking, but devoid of any other emotions.

"Indeed. This is a nice little surprise. Zidane and Kuja, with your little friends. Where are the others? Off doing the hero thing, saving petty Gaian lives? How useless."

"It is not useless, Garland." Zidane, leader and hero extrordinare stepped forward. "What have you done to Mira?"

Mira laughed slightly. "The name, deary, is Miraina." She turned away from him and randomly shot at another building that was still standing.

"Stop it! Don't you remember who you were?" Freya gripped her lance, trying to restrain herself from attacking this woman who had seemed so innocent.

Miraina turned back toward them with a frown on her face. "Who I was? Am I supposed to care? I certainly didn't have this sort of freedom before this, so why do I want to remember?"

"What about your feelings for Kuja? Wouldn't you want to remember them?" Garnet's turn to add her two cents.

"Feelings? For Kuja?" Miraina began to outright laugh, the sound sending chills down their spines. "Why how quaint. My dear girl, all I feel is contempt for you silly little children. How could I feel otherwise?"

"That's not true. You're being controlled by Garland." Zidane took another step forward. Maybe if he could tackle her and get that coronet off her head…

He waited too long. Miraina lifted her hand and moved it in a sweeping gesture. The four of them went flying backward ten feet. Garnet hit a pole in the ground and was knocked unconscious. Freya was the first one up, and she used her Dragon Crest skill, regretting the fact that it came to this. Miraina smiled and raised her hand, blocking the attack without difficulty. She flipped her hand around, palm up, and raised it. Freya was raised in the air at the same time and was flung backwards, her shoulder impaled on a jagged piece of pipe that had been forced out of the ground. Freya cried out once before loosing consciousness. Zidane was up next; angry at the way his fiancé and his friend had been hurt. He charged at her with his Ultima Weapon. When he was just a few feet from her he swung it, and she caught it. A single drop of blood from her hand fell to the ground, before her other hand swung up under his abdomen. It stopped before hitting him, but then a blast from her hand launched him at one of the remaining walls of a building. He lay there groaning in agony.

"Is this all you have?" She shook her head in mock disgust. "Such a pity. Well kiddies, I'm done here for now. I'll tell you what, though. You really want to fight me? Try and stop all the delightful carnage? Then keep your eyes on the ocean between the continents my darling dears. There will rise a great temple, its creation signifying your end, and new Terra's beginning. If you can get through the place, and then beat me, well then, I guess you'll have saved the day." She turned away from them and began walking after Garland who had already turned and signaled for their airship to come and get them. "Of course, you know you'll never win. Oh well." Her mocking laughter stayed with them even after she had boarded.

Kuja had been frozen the whole time after being knocked backwards. Now he began to move as he heard Zidane coughing violently. He attended to Zidane first, using the best healing spell he could think of. Next he moved to Freya, blasting the pipe to get her off of it easier. Garnet had by this time woken up and stumbled over to where he was, using her own magic to heal their friend. As Freya began to regain consciousness, the others got to the scene; not sure what to make of the state their friends were all in. Eiko set out to help Garnet get them back to working order, and Vivi worked at putting out the last of the fires where they were. Steiner left to get the airship, feeling he wasn't helping much any other way. Everyone was sitting around dejectedly when he got back.

"I can't believe someone could change so drastically." Garnet sat next to Zidane, his arm around her waist.

"It has to be Garland's doing." Freya was looking at her lance. "The only thing now is, how do we stop her, she's very powerful."

"No kidding. My Ultima Weapon didn't hardly scratch her. She didn't even flinch when it hit!"

"Don't tell me you're giving up." They all turned as Amarant jumped down from some rubble.

"Where in the world have you been?" Freya stood up and glared at him.

"Thinking." He replied shortly. He turned back to Zidane. "I saw the whole thing, from start to finish. That's one nasty girl there."

"Why didn't you try to stop her?" Eiko glared up at Amarant.

"And get fried like you guys? I'm not that reckless." He folded his arms across his chest.

Zidane stood up as well, helping Garnet to her feet. "Will you help us fight her now? Everyone is in danger, not just us."

"I'll help you get to her, at least. The question to ask is what will you do once you get to her? You seem to like her, and you need to know what you are willing to do, to save the world."

"We'll have to kill her." Kuja finally spoke up, making everyone turn to look at him. "We don't have a chance of getting close enough to do anything else."

"Are you sure?" Garnet asked in disbelief.

"I'm sure."

"We should go and keep an eye on the ocean then. We can form a plan while we wait for this 'temple' to appear." Zidane started toward the airship, the others following. Kuja was the last to board, and he did so only after looking around at what used to be Treno. The whole city was decimated, people lying dead in the rubble. Even he had never done destruction on this scale, except on Terra when he'd gone mad from being told he was going to die.

'_And now I have to kill the person who saved me. Doesn't life make just so much sense?_' He thought to himself bitterly before going on the ship.

They were nearly to the center of the ocean between the continents. Everyone had been silent up till this point. Zidane set the ship on autopilot and made it stay stationary. He hopped down off the platform and stood looking at his companions. No one was particularly in a good mood. Eiko was still depressed about the deaths of the moogles, as was Garnet. Kuja was in who knows what condition with his wife/lover going around destroying everything and saying she cared nothing for him. Vivi was never happy when his friends weren't happy. Steiner didn't know what to do to help anyone. Amarant was his usual quiet self, and Freya seemed to be worrying about what was going to happen. Only Quina seemed its usual self, sitting quietly eating some sort of sandwich it had made herself.

Zidane took a deep breath. "So, what's the plan?" They all looked up at him.

"We can obviously guess that this temple will have a lot of traps." Kuja's voice was calm and controlled. "Miraina seemed to imply that we could never make it through to where she will be, which will probably be near the center." He smiled slightly. "Of course, Garland may have designed the place, and he loves mazes. We'll have to expect anything and everything."

"That's great." Was Eiko's sarcastic reply.

"Let's not argue amongst ourselves. We have to get along if we're going to win." Freya scolded the two of them as they glared at each other.

"That's right. We have to work together." Zidane said everything slowly to emphasize his point. "We will all need to go in I think. We stand a better chance that way, right?" Kuja nodded in agreement.

"Someone should stay here and keep an eye on the ship, though. In case we need to get picked up in a hurry." Amarant said.

"Yes, you're right." Zidane stood thinking to himself. Finally, "This is how I see it. We'll split into two groups. Amarant, Vivi, Steiner, and Eiko will form one group. Garnet Kuja, Freya, and myself will make the other group. Quina will stay here and keep the ship waiting for us. That work for everyone?" They all nodded, with Quina happy since it got to stay where the food was. "Then all we have to wait for is the temple to show up."

"How long do you think it will take for the thing to be ready?" Vivi walked over to the window and looked around. He saw no disturbance anywhere.

"Who knows? If she's using magic, could be just a few minutes, or a few days. We'll just have to be patient." Zidane came over to the window to watch with Vivi.

'_It's interesting how they can all plan this out. No wonder they beat me, they act as a unit, not doing anything that everyone doesn't agree with._' Kuja leaned against the wall, watching everyone. He was still fairly numb from the decision of killing Miraina, and he didn't want to feel anything. '_Who knows, maybe we will win. We certainly don't have any worse of a chance than they did when they fought Necron._' Kuja sighed, thinking about everything he had done. There was a sudden sensation in the back of his mind, and he walked over to the window with the others. As soon as he did, there was a giant disturbance in the ocean.

Huge bubbles, like some giant monster was drowning came to the surface. Soon they saw a black spire rise out of the water, followed by green and gold spires on either side. The building kept coming up, larger than they had imagined. It was black, green, and gold. Water spilled from the windows, running down jagged spikes that ran the whole length of the building. There would be no climbing this thing, not if they wanted to arrive in one piece. When it stopped surfacing, there was a platform large enough for the airship at the bottom. It even had a landing sign, as if Miraina and Garland were taunting them to come and try their luck. Well, Zidane was more that willing to oblige, as he went to the controls and landed carefully. Nothing had come out yet, but they were still cautious. There were two entrances, one with stairs leading down, one with stairs leading up. Zidane and the others stood looking at the stairs, everyone trying to decide which way their main goal would be located.

"Well Kuja, which way do you want to go." Zidane asked as Kuja came up behind him. Quina took off in the airship, on orders from Zidane to keep a reasonable distance.

Kuja looked up at the top of the temple. The whole place had a dark feel to it, like the stones themselves were trying to suck the life from the group. "I think we should go up. Garland will probably be at one end, and Miraina at the other." He kept his gaze on the top spire. "I think she is up."

"All right them people! My group will go up, the rest of you go down. Take care of yourselves, all right? I intend to see everyone when I leave here." He smiled at them as they all went to their respected doorways. The entrances closed once everyone was behind them, meaning there was no turning back now.

High in the top spire, looking down at the silly people who looked like ants from there, stood Miraina. She watched them from a window, amused at the futileness of their actions. "Such fools." She muttered to herself. She turned from the sight as they all went into the building, looking towards a crystal in the middle of the room she occupied. It was purple, with glowing strands of red and green running through it. At a wave of her hand, she saw the two groups making their way to death. Each group would die in different ways, but they would all die, she was quite sure. Master Garland had said so, after all. She smiled to herself as the group going down into the depths of the temple found their first monsters. It wouldn't take long at all, before everyone was dead, and then all of Terra would be restored.

A sudden pain in her chest knocked Miraina to her knees. The pain sliced up through her head as images flashed through her mind. She screamed loudly, and in a moment, everything ceased. She sat there gasping from the agony, her vision blurred. What had caused that? But it didn't matter, the pain was gone, and she had work to do. Miraina stood and left the crystal. She could check it any time she wanted, there was no hurry.


	7. All done shall be undone…

Zidane figured they were halfway up, judging from the view he'd gotten from the last window. The creatures in here were all like others he had fought before, but they were different as well. They were stronger, and often had one feature or another that was unique. Freya and Garnet were holding up fairly well, all things considered. Kuja didn't complain at all, and Zidane was seriously starting to worry that he was retreating into himself. Zidane needed him to be aware if they were going to make it. So far they had done fairly well, but every here and there they struggled with everything they had to just stay alive. They were taking a chance and resting for a few minutes to use their supplies and catch their breath.

"We can't take much harder than that last fellow Zidane." Freya looked over at her friend as she spoke.

"Yes, I know. And just think, we're only about half way there, I think." Zidane was having doubts about their survival.

"After all that climbing? We can't only be halfway!" Garnet looked exhausted, even using the supplies.

"You can look for yourself. We are up pretty high, but I don't think we're as far as we wish we were." Zidane saw her go over to the window and look down, then crane her neck around to try and look up. She sighed in defeat.

"I think it's an illusion." Kuja's eyes were closed as he spoke. "Garnet is right. We have climbed too far to only be halfway. We're probably almost to the top, really." He opened his eyes and looked toward the stairs. "We've been here over ten minutes, and nothing has come to attack us yet. Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

"He's right." Freya stood up and looked around them. Now that she did, the whole platform they stood on looked different from any other they had seen. She hadn't noticed when she first got here, she was so tired, but this place was much more decorated.

"Damn! That means we could have just walked right up to Miraina and not realized it until she was smiling at us." Zidane was glad now that Kuja was so quiet. Probably meant that he watched things more than the rest of them.

"Indeed." Kuja closed his eyes again.

"Were you going to say anything? Or just let us walk into our deaths?" Garnet snapped at the sorcerer.

"I _was_ going to say something. I just thought you might want some real rest before having to worry you about facing Miraina." Was his irritated reply.

"Let's try not to fight, okay?" Freya began to pace lightly; more awake than she had been for a good distance they had been walking. "At least we know now. We can be ready when we face her."

"That's right." Zidane looked over his weapon. "I wonder how the others are doing?"

"Them? Probably kicking butt and wondering how we're doing." Garnet smiled now, but inside she was worried. How were they doing? She'd had a bad feeling for a while, that something was wrong, but she kept it to herself. They had other things to worry about.

Vivi and Steiner sat in a small room they had barricaded. They were both depressed and tired. They had lost Amarant first, when he fell down a hole that had opened under his feet. They couldn't see the bottom, and they never heard his body hit, but they assumed the worst. His loss had cost them dearly. In one of the battles, Eiko had been grabbed by some flying thing, and carried off. Following the creature, they had found only a ribbon and a pool of blood. After that, they fought as hard as possible just to find somewhere to hide. They knew, without Eiko's healing skills, they would never last very long. Even now, something was lurking outside the door.

"It was a pleasure fighting beside you, Master Vivi." Steiner held out his hand to Vivi, who took it a bit nervously.

"It isn't over yet Steiner. Zidane and the others could still pull through. We just need to hang on, and I'm sure we will be fine." The black mage sat against the wall, listening to the creature outside.

"Of course Master Vivi. And this is a highly defensible place. We can hold out for a long while." Steiner sounded confident, but he was scared out of his wits. He had failed to protect Eiko, and hadn't been able to do anything for Amarant. His sword had some scratches in it, and he only wanted to lie down and sleep.

"Wait." Vivi and Steiner held still. The thing outside the door seemed to go away and they breathed a sigh of relief. The fewer things they had to fight, the longer they could last. "Maybe they won't look in here. They are only animals after all." He tried to cheer up his friend. He was about to say something else when a new sound stopped his heart cold. The ground beneath their feet began to crack, a loud splitting sound. They both stood and watched in horror as some sort of worm broke through the stone.

"Good luck to you, Master Vivi!" Steiner charged in, slashing at the creature as Vivi powered up a Flare.

"Good luck to all of us." Vivi said quietly before letting loose his magic.

"So, we ready to go stop her for good?" Zidane and the others were all standing. Kuja nodded once, and Garnet squared her shoulders. Freya flipped her lance around to signal her readiness. Looking at these people he had come to trust so much, Zidane felt a wave of confidence. They could do this, he was sure of it. "Let's get going then!" He turned toward the door that had been the other strange part of this platform. Opening it, they came to a large room, and no more stairs. It seemed as though they _had_ reached the top. There was a door at the other end of the room, as well as a large mirror along one wall.

"I have a decidedly bad feeling about this." Kuja said as they began to walk across the room.

"I know what you mean. No sign of anyone, or anything yet." Freya's grip on her lance tightened.

Garnet looked over at the mirror and gasped, making them turn to look at her in alarm. They followed her gaze and backed away from the mirror.

It didn't hold their reflections, but something in it was getting closer. And fast.

They all readied themselves as a creature just smaller than a grand dragon, but looking like it came through the mirror. It looked at them and licked its chops, seeing them as a nice little snack. Kuja lunched a Fira spell at it, which bounced off of a reflect spell. Garnet ignored the spell as it hit her, her armor absorbing the fire. She cast a reflect on herself as Zidane and Freya jumped forward to attack. Zidane's Ultima Weapon sliced open its scales, and Freya's lance ripped one of its wings. The creature cried out in pain, and slashed at them.

"This isn't so hard." Zidane got ready to go in for another strike.

"I wouldn't be so sure. Look at the damage you did." Kuja called over to him, even as he cast a Flare off of the reflect Garnet had cast. It hit the dragon and forced it back a few steps. Zidane looked where he was told, and saw to his dismay that the injury was already healed.

"Damn! So what else can we do?" He dodged a claw that would have taken off his head.

"You make a run for it and stop Miraina!" Garnet called over to them both. They turned to look at her as she summoned Bahamut. The dragon summon began to fight the evil dragon as she looked over at them. "I can hold him off, maybe even beat him. You have to stop Miraina though! The longer we take with these things, the more time she has to work!" Zidane was about to say something when she interrupted. "Just go! All of you! I'll catch up later." Kuja grabbed Zidane and ran toward the other door, Freya behind him. Before going through Kuja turned to look at the queen.

"Take care, Your Highness." Garnet smiled briefly and Kuja closed the door behind him.

Inside Zidane was leaning against the wall. He moved as if to go back, but Freya stopped him, and Kuja stood in his way to the door. They were in a narrow hallway, one door at the end. They began to walk down, their senses straining for anything. They reached the door without incident and opened it to some more stairs. Running up them quickly, they reached another platform before a silver door. It opened to another room with a gold door at the end. Before they could go through, though, a ball of slime fell from the ceiling. Freya managed to just push Kuja and Zidane through the door before it covered her. The door was knocked closed.

"Freya!" Zidane got up and tried to open the door, but it was stuck fast. He hit it once in frustration. Their group had been reduced by two in less than ten minutes.

"We have to keep going." Kuja stood and moved toward the gold door. Zidane followed him; determined to make Miraina pay for all that had happened. He couldn't think of her as the person she had been any longer.

The door opened to a fairly small room with a purple crystal in the center. It had strands of red and green moving through it. There was another doorway to their right, and from there came out Miraina. She was dressed in a long black dress, the stone in the coronet glowing brighter than it had before. She smiled crookedly at them, and made a mock bow.

"So you made it all the way here? My goodness, I am impressed. But where are the others? Didn't they want to come too?" She moved closer to the crystal. "Or were they not able to come? Maybe they're in nice little pieces?" She laughed cruelly and Zidane tightened his grip on his weapon, and his anger. Losing his temper now would get him killed. Miraina stopped laughing abruptly and placed her hand on the crystal. It glowed briefly, and they saw inside of it, Vivi and Steiner, lying side by side, blood pooled beneath them. It switched to the mangled corpse of Eiko, then to Amarant, who lay at the bottom of a hole. It switched again to Freya, who was stone, a silent scream on her face.

"Enough." Zidane's voice was hoarse. "I won't believe that this is true. You'd say anything to make us give up."

"Say? But I'm only showing you what happened to the others." She looked hurt for a moment, then brightened, a bit of malevolence in her purple-blue eyes. "Would you like to see your little queen? She is still alive, but not by much any more. I could let you watch her die, if you wanted." She looked back at the crystal, the picture moving to the room where the dragon still fought Garnet. Garnet was bleeding from several places, her left arm seeming to be lifeless at her side.

"_No_! Stop this now!" Zidane moved to attack Miraina and was thrown into the wall, his arm holding the Ultima Weapon cracking from the impact. The weapon fell to the floor uselessly. As Zidane watched, the dragon sliced open Garnet and the picture disappeared.

"So sorry. Guess you'll need to find a new girlfriend." Miraina looked thoughtful a moment. "Then again, if I kill you, you won't, will you? I suppose I could do you that little favor." She moved towards Zidane, when Kuja stepped between them. She actually looked startled. "You want to try something?"

"I can't let you hurt anyone else. Why can't you remember? Why can't you try?" His voice was pleading, but there was a note of defeat in it as well.

"Why? _Why_? I don't want to. I don't have a reason to." She smiled at him in a pitying manner. "Come now, you know you can't win. Maybe if you give up I'll kill you really fast." Kuja stood his ground, his hands behind his back. Zidane saw the Ultima was hiding there. "Oh very well. I'll kill you first, then him." She formed a ball of purple energy in her hand and threw it at him. In the last instant, he swung the sword like a bat and hit the spell back at her. Her eyes widened as it hit her, knocking her backward into the wall. She left a dent in the stone, but only seemed to be fazed.

Kuja ran forward and held the sword up to stab her. Then he hesitated. She sat there shaking her head, and for a moment, she seemed like Mira. He closed his eyes briefly. "I'm sorry Mira."

"So am I." He opened his eyes to see such hatred he nearly staggered back a step. He had waited too long. "Rude." She pushed her hand forward, palm toward him, and the next thing he felt was the wall as he impacted it. "So rude." She got unsteadily to her feet and stood glaring at him.

"You're a monster Miraina. You should be destroyed!" Zidane had gotten up and was cradling his arm.

"Well, too bad no one can accomplish it." Lightning blazed in her hands and Kuja watched helplessly as she blasted a hole in Zidane's chest. The young hero slumped to the ground, a look of shock on his face. She turned her attention back to Kuja as he stood up. "Gonna try again?"

Kuja's shoulders slumped in defeat and he tossed the Ultima to the ground. "I can't kill you. I was never able to, and not because you're so strong."

"Oh dear, sentimentality at its finest. How disgusting." She sneered at him. "Well, you're the last one. After you, everyone on the dear little planet will be fried to lovely crispy critters." She began to form a ball of pure black energy in her hands, larger than any other he had yet seen.

"If that's your choice. But you _are_ Mira, even if you deny her. Even if she can't forgive you for what you've done, I can, since she forgave me. Remember that, Miraina." Kuja leaned back slightly and closed his eyes, more tired than he had ever been in his life.

Since he closed his eyes, he didn't see the change in Miraina. Something flashed across her eyes, some long forgotten emotion. Images flashed through her mind; the cottage they shared, the bed, the garden, and other things. A time before she knew him, when she watched him from a far, when he tore apart the planet causing chaos, to match the chaos inside of him. Her entire existence flashed before her, and the gem in the circlet cracked.

Kuja suddenly opened his eyes when he heard her scream. The ball of energy was still in her hands, but the center swirled with a pure white light. The gem was glowing with a blinding light, cracks appearing along its surface. She looked up and their eyes met for a moment, the depths of her eyes glowing a perfect blue, then she raised her hands and brought the deadly spell that was meant for him down upon herself. There was a blinding, pure light that engulfed everything, and then everything was black.

Kuja opened his eyes. Above him was blue sky and fluffy white clouds. A bright sun hung a bit to the right, sending warmth through everything it touched. He was disoriented for a moment, and couldn't remember much of anything. Then it all came back to him. He sat up and looked around him. Everyone was there, in the middle of a green field. Zidane lay next to Garnet, Vivi and Eiko were near each other. Steiner lay on his back, sleeping peacefully, his chest rising and falling gently. Amarant was near Freya, her lance held in her hands still. Even Quina was there, curled around a rock. They were all alive and well, everyone just asleep.

Kuja stood up carefully and heard the others begin to stir. He didn't quite recognize where they were, but it was very green. Garnet looked around her in confusion and shook Zidane gently. He was on his feet as soon as his eyes opened. He stopped when he saw everyone and looked spectacularly confused. The others all began to wake up, everyone as confused as the others, since all they remembered last was dying. Zidane walked over to where Kuja stood.

"What in the world happened?" Everyone got up and came over to hear the answer.

Kuja was silent a minute. "I'm not really sure." Not the answer they had wanted.

"But we were dead, weren't we?" Eiko was looking around her. "Maybe we still are?"

"Nope, sorry." They turned and saw Kupo landing. Behind him came all the moogles of Madain Sari. Eiko ran forward to hug them all, tears streaming down her face.

"You sure?" Zidane was watching the moogles.

"Quite, actually. We all saw the giant flash in the ocean. A massive wave of light washed over everything, and we, the moogles, began the search for you."

"But what happened?" Garnet knelt by the moogle.

"Well you see, it has to do with Mira. With who she really is." Kupo heaved a sigh and shook his head. "When the planet was in danger, it came up with its own defense. Just in case you all failed. That defense was Mira. She is a direct incarnation of the planet Gaia, with all the power of the life here on the planet at her disposal. That's why Garland wanted her under his control. I mean, how do you fight a planet? You could never win against such a thing. But Garland didn't count on her emotions." Everyone was around Kupo now to listen to him. "You see, her original purpose was not to kill Kuja, but to save him. To make him more stable and to extend his life, give him a chance at a normal future."

"The planet knew I was going to die?" Kuja looked startled.

"Yes indeed. As soon as you set foot on the planet. But you were supposed to destroy most of Gaia. Then, of course, you destroyed the crystal, and they had to fight Necron. While all this fighting was going on, one attack or another on the planet itself injured Mira, and she lost her memory. But, the initial wish to help you was still in her, which is why she wandered around the Iifa Tree for so long. She was looking for you, even when she didn't know it."

"So where is she now?" Kuja remembered the last blast.

Kupo shook his head sadly. "We don't know. We had hoped she would be here with all of you. She may have been destroyed, or she may have used all her strength. She restored all she destroyed, as well as all Garland destroyed. Treno is back to normal, the moogles are alive and well, and even you are all alive. She may not have been able to do all that and remain." Kupo looked down at the ground.

'…_Kuja…_' Kuja looked around and as at the Iifa Tree, no one seemed to have heard it. Kuja closed his eyes and saw Mira there, standing in the field before him. He opened his eyes and everyone was gone, except Mira. He knew this wasn't real.

"It could be." She sounded real, to be sure.

"What do you mean? Are you still alive?" He walked forward a step, but didn't seem to come any closer.

She laughed lightly, not like Miraina had done, but like he remembered Mira had always done. "Of course I'm still alive. As long as Gaia lives, so do I. But I wanted to know…" Mira looked away from him, her eyes looking sad. "Did you mean what you said? About forgiving me? What I did Kuja, you can never compare to." This time when Kuja stepped forward he did get closer, close enough to wrap his arms around her waist. She looked up at him in surprise, and he smiled at her.

"Of course I meant it. Have I ever said anything I didn't mean to you?" He leaned in and kissed her, feeling as if it had been forever since he'd done that. When he pulled away, he heard a noise behind him as the others starred. Mira hadn't been there a moment ago, but she was now.

"What just happened?" Zidane scratched the back of his head.

"Does it matter? Just be glad for heaven's sake!" Garnet mock hit him on the shoulder.

"What about Garland?" Eiko piped in. Mira turned to her.

"Gone, for good this time. I sent him somewhere special." Mira turned her attention back to Kuja. They had some time to make up for.

Epilogue 

The crowd cheered as the two couples kissed on their cues from the priest. Kuja and Mira were locked a little longer than Zidane and got quite a few catcalls for it. Eiko made faces behind all their backs, and Vivi was holding onto his rice basket waiting to throw it at them. The double wedding had been planned for a month, and the whole planet seemed to be there. The wedding itself had taken place in the shadow of the Iifa Tree, which had been changed into a beautiful example of what nature could make if she really tried. The couples made their way down the makeshift isle, rice covering them.

"How did you talk me into this?" Kuja turned to Zidane as they got to the reception.

"I talked your wife into it first, and she pouted at you." Zidane said as he watched both their brides off gossiping.

"Oh yes, I forgot." Kuja looked down at his tux. "Now I'm married for real. How absolutely strange."

"No kidding." Zidane smiled as the women came over to where they were, Garnet wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Come on Zidane, I wanna dance with my husband." She dragged him off, his look of terror making Kuja laugh.

"I wanted to tell you something Kuja." Kuja turned to Mira, feeling the familiar melt in his chest whenever he saw her.

"Yes? Something wrong?" She giggled.

"No. It's something good." She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. For a second, he just starred, not comprehending. Then his eyes widened as it dawned on him.

"Us? …Kid? …Ours?" He looked from her face to her stomach, not sure what to do first, kiss her or tell everyone. He settled for kissing her and picking her up off her feet. "I'm gonna be a dad! Who woulda thought it?"

"Someone did, I'm sure. Now we'll just need names for them."

"Them?" Kuja started laughing in delight. "I can't wait to lord this over Zidane. I bet _he_ doesn't get to have twins any time soon."

"No, probably not." Mira wrapped her arms around Kuja's neck, glad for everything in her life, and all that was right on the planet.

The End 


End file.
